"I slept here," he said. "I need a phone."

The nun hustled him down a long hallway and into a barren office, where a phone rested silently on a scarred wooden desk. Teuch dialed, unconcerned with whether the nun heard him or not. He got his man and in Spanish directed him to drop everything and get to the shelter, to bring him a gun, clothes, money, and enough junk and needles to keep him high for a month.

"We don't allow trouble here," the nun said, her back rigid as he slouched past.

"Sometimes it just comes," he said, and he ambled back to the cot where he'd spent the night and lay down to wait.

CHAPTER 49

SHOULD I BE JEALOUS OF MANDY CHASE?" CASEY ASKED JOSe. She pulled her Mercedes up the driveway, following a long midnight-blue Bentley with glittering rims to the red carpet that welcomed patrons to Nick and Sam's.

"It wasn't like that," Jose said, climbing out and giving her a dirty look over the roof of the car.

"She didn't just charm you with her silicone?" Casey said, handing off her keys to a red-jacketed valet.

"Are you serious?" he said under his breath, taking her arm and walking her through the double doors of wood and beveled glass.

"An EPA agent pulled a gun on me today," Casey said, putting on a smile and waving to Paige.

Paige stood in a small group of others back by a dark wood bar lined with fat white candles in silver holders.

"That tells me anything's possible," Casey said.

They passed the hostess's stand and noise from the restaurant washed over them. Although it was early in the evening, the dining room didn't appear to have any empty tables and the dark, spacious bar area overflowed with men in tailored suits and women wearing high heels. On the back wall, facing the bar, a seventy-inch plasma screen flickered and glowed, its sound all but drowned in chatty laughter.

"Come on. This is what we wanted," Jose said, wearing a forced smile of his own, taking her arm, and marching toward Paige's group. "He'll crumble."

"I'm teasing you," she said, tugging him close, squeezing his hand, and brushing her lips against his ear. "We've got him. Tomorrow I unleash my depositions, my subpoenas, and I plaster him in the press. It's all so good, and I'm so happy you're with me for this."

Casey turned and embraced Paige, bussing her cheek, then Luddy's, before stepping back to receive introductions to two other couples, similarly wealthy. A small gathering, Paige had told her. The Golds and the Treemores, two very eligible philanthropists for her clinic.

"And this is Jose O'Brien," Casey said, turning to Jose. While his blue blazer and jeans appeared wilted next to the crisp suits and white shirts of the other men, he more than made up for it with his height, his posture, and his dangerous good looks.

Jose shook hands and looked hard into their eyes before he asked if anyone needed a drink. The rich men all rattled their ice and ordered Chivas Regals, thanking the ex-cop for his generosity. The ladies allowed their champagne glasses to be refilled from the bucket of Dom Perignon behind the bar. What Jose ordered, no one knew.

"That tequila?" Treemore asked, blinking behind his small, round glasses.

"Only when I want to go todo loco," Jose said sternly. Then his face softened. "No, it's vodka. Absolut. Straight up."

Treemore's pale cheeks went pink and he nodded.

"Well," Casey said, raising the champagne glass Jose offered her. "To friends, old and new."

As they raised their glasses, Paige's eyes passed over Casey's shoulder and the light in her face went out.

"Christ," she said, flicking her eyes at Casey before returning to the back wall, "you're on TV."

Paige pushed through their small group and the bigger crowd in the middle of the floor, making way for Casey and the rest to follow. As they did, the people craned their necks at Casey and the festive din subsided. Beside the newscaster's face was a blown-up publicity photo Lifetime had used of her when the movie was released.

"… Jordan has called a press conference of her own for tomorrow," the newscaster said, looking solemnly into the camera until the picture cut to Senator Chase at a podium in front of a dark blue curtain bearing the senate seal and flanked by flags of the United States and Texas.

"The accusations fabricated by Casey Jordan are outrageous and pathetic, but those who know this woman lawyer will not be surprised," Chase said, looking up from the podium to make his point. "The same Casey Jordan, a self-made character in the recent Lifetime movie, is being sued by her own husband for defamation, has recently threatened the Dallas district attorney with a gender-biased smear campaign evolving out of her role defending a murderer who signed a confession, and, incredibly, has been shut down by the EPA for operating a workplace where she knowingly exposed employees to toxic substances. This from a woman who claims to run a charity, but uses the money to pay herself a six-figure salary, drive a Mercedes-Benz, and do work for criminals connected to organized crime. Additionally, we have learned that ten thousand dollars was recently wired from her account to an unknown location in Mexico."

Chase looked up again. "If this woman's present grab for money and notoriety weren't so hurtful and destructive, I might have to laugh at its audacity."

Chase returned to his notes. "To attempt to capitalize on the tragedy that my family and the family of Elijandro Torres have had to recently endure is sick, and it won't surprise anyone to know that Casey Jordan has in fact undergone serious psychological treatment.

"Finally," Chase said, looking up one more time and sighing dramatically, "it is important to know that Casey Jordan has aligned herself with a disgraced police officer from the Dallas PD. Jose O'Brien, her investigator and boyfriend, is a dirty cop. O'Brien was linked to Mexican gang activity including the smuggling of narcotics, and human trafficking for a prostitution ring. Three years ago, O'Brien was discharged from duty as an officer without pay and without his pension."

Casey felt her mouth drop open. She turned to Jose and saw the ripple of muscles in his jaw. He wouldn't face her, and she dropped his hand from her own.

On the screen, Chase looked up and addressed the cameras with a practiced stare. "These are the people working against me. Before it became public, I wanted the people of this great state to know exactly what is afoot and to personally deny any wrongdoing on my part."

The newscaster's face appeared on the screen and said, "Joining Senator Chase at that impromptu news conference was Casey Jordan's former husband of ten years, Taylor Jordan, the notable Austin philanthropist."

"Christ," Casey said, her eyes glued to the enormous screen, but still conscious of the glances flashing at her from all quarters.

Taylor, handsome, conservatively dressed, and gray around the edges of his wavy hair, sniffed and looked up with red eyes. "My ex-wife, Casey Jordan, has slandered me publicly and privately. I am pursuing her in court for the shame she's brought on my good family's name, and I'm here to tell the truth about her, so that this good man, a hero to many of us for his stand on American values, will not have to suffer the humiliation that I have. It's wrong. It was wrong when she did it to me with that… that movie. And it's wrong now."

The newscaster appeared, silent and shaking his head in disgust before getting back to business. "In Iraq today, twenty-seven-"

Casey looked at Jose, aware of the uncomfortable quiet that had settled on the room.

"Jose," she said, speaking low, "I am so sorry I dragged you into this."

Jose clenched his hands and looked up, his nostrils flaring, but with eyes that glistened. He turned and headed for the door.